I'd never heard of Matt Devine's home-recording project Ventilator, but I was curious because of my fascination with straight-to-High Bias-TDK music. Imagine how hoodwinked I felt when I heard Ventilator's Reseda Spleen! This album sounds as lo-fi as Revolver! That's probably because Devine cheated by not using one of those shitty cassette recorders Phair and GBV and I used. He used a proper Tascam 388 ¼" reel-to-reel tape recorder (purchased from a Mighty Morphine Rangers stuntman for $1,000, no less) and got a proper professional engineer to mix it. Earl Mankey engineered freaking Beach Boys albums! Not good ones, mind you, but still...The Beach Boys! Who just happens to have a Beach Boys engineer hanging around their home? What kind of home recording is that?
So, can we forgive Matt Devine's complete and total violation of the murk-and-hiss ethos of home recording? I guess we're going to have to because Reseda Speen is just too damn good. From the power-pop pounce of "The Tailor's Lament" through the acoustic moodiness of "Lansdowne" and "Jerico's Pool" to the neo-psych swirl of "Earthquake Song" to the glammy stomp of "In Mysterium" to the disorienting experimentalism of "Schadenfreude", Reseda Spleen is one great song after another. I bet Liz Phair and Bob Pollard would love it too (not sure about Townshend; that guy's a real prickly pear).
Originally released on CD by Delmore Recordings in 1996, Reseda Spleen is now making its vinyl debut via Bar/None. The music sounds warm and clear and the plastic is flat and extremely quiet without any groove distortion. The cover art has been revised to a grainy portrait of Devine and the inner sleeve features extensive liner notes.
